Bosnian court acquits commander of war crimes

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Bosnia’s war crimes court on Monday acquitted the commander of Srebrenica, who was accused of committing atrocities against Serbs during the 1992-95 Balkan conflict.

The acquittal of Naser Oric angered Serbian leaders, with Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin saying the ruling “threatens security, trust and reconciliation in the whole of the Balkans.”

Oric was accused of war crimes against three Serb prisoners of war who were murdered in villages around the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in the early days of the conflict. A panel of judges presiding over the trial ruled Monday that the prosecution did not present evidence proving the case against Oric.

Oric is seen as a hero by many Muslim Bosnians for his role in defending Srebrenica, where Serb forces massacred 8,000 Muslim men and boys in 1995. The killings, the worst single atrocity in Europe since World War II, is the only episode of Bosnia’s war to be defined as genocide by two U.N. courts.

Serbs continue to claim that the 1995 Srebrenica slaughter was an act of revenge by uncontrolled troops because they say soldiers under Oric’s command killed thousands of Serbs in the villages surrounding the eastern town.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said “it is clear that we will have to fight for justice ourselves.” Still, he urged Serbs not to “utter a hard word against Bosniak neighbors so that we build friendship with them, and build a future together with them.”

Oric had previously been tried by a U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, where he was also acquitted in 2008.